Arsenal’s Premier League season hasn’t fared in the manner in which they would have wanted to as yet another season of unfulfilled promises lingers on. Arsene Wenger is under intense pressure from fans and media alike as he divides the opinion amongst them and quite rightly so.
The Gunners have not kissed the league silverware for over a decade now and lacklustre performances in the European top tier have only tarnished their image.
Apparently, the Frenchman’s future at the Emirates Stadium hangs in the balance as the board is still pondering on extending his contract owing to the hostile behaviour of the anti-Wenger brigade. A top-four finish and the FA Cup are the only realistic targets which the Gunners could possibly aim for, which imply that the need to perform would be on a much higher level next season.
The summer transfer window is likely to see some additions to the squad of the North London based club and one of the players who is already linked with the English outfit is Schalke 04’s charismatic midfielder, Leon Goretzka.
The 22-year-old is undergoing an excellent season in the German Bundesliga with the Royal Blues, having scored 4 league goals and finding the back of the net on 2 occasions in Europa League as well.
Intriguingly, his contract expires in the summer and he is reluctant to extend his stay at the Veltins-Arena but instead of losing one of the hottest properties which the German top flight has on offer for free, Schalke are believed to sell him for around £21million.
Monsieur Wenger has splashed the cash and has eradicated his tag of being a miser to a significant extent and the interest from Arsenal to lure Goretzka makes perfect sense.
The German is a very versatile midfielder, who could ply his trade as a central defensive midfielder, a central attacking midfielder and can also be engineered on the right-hand side of the midfield.
He holds the ball well, shields the backline in a shrewd manner, goes into tight physical battles and shoots from distance at times. Goretzka has a tendency of going forward despite being slotted in deeper positions and is a complete package for any top quality side.
While Mesut Ozil’s contractual situation is still an unsolved puzzle, players such as Francis Coquelin, Granit Xhaka and Aaron Ramsey haven’t really excelled this season and without any shadow of a doubt, Goretzka would be offering serious competition for a place in the starting line-up of Arsenal.
His versatility will be appreciated by Wenger and maybe, just maybe, he could be the final piece in the jigsaw.
